Posted on 07/27/2002 12:33:40 PM PDT by a-whole-nother-box-of-pandoras
Fairest on the federal bench
Afterthought led Judge Moody to the law
By Michael Haddigan
July 26, 2002
As a college student in the 1950s, U.S. District Judge Jim Moody looked forward to a career in engineering and work in the oil industry of his native El Dorado.
Those were days when many young men saw a future full of formulas and equations, he said.
"I graduated from high school about the time of the Sputnik crisis so everyone was slated to be an engineer when they left high school," he said. "My father worked in an oil refinery so he thought it would be good if I was a chemical engineer."
By the time he graduated from the University of Arkansas, however, Moody had changed his major to industrial management and was to enter the Army.
The Army didn't want him for another year, so "to fill that time" he entered law school.
"It was an afterthought, frankly, at the time. I didn't know whether I'd like it or not," he said.
That decision led him to a life in the law and eventually to an appointment by President Bill Clinton in 1995 to the federal bench in the Eastern District of Arkansas.
The quiet-spoken, courtly judge was himself judged by lawyers in the Eastern District as the fairest on the federal bench. Moody modestly credits his assistants.
"No judge is better than his staff, and I have the greatest staff in the world," he said. "If anybody gets credit for this, they should."
Judge Moody completed his law degree at the University of Arkansas in 1964 and, after a stint as an artillery officer, he joined Little Rock's Wright, Lindsey and Jennings law firm.
"I had primarily a civil defense practice," he said. "My experience was with product liability and professional liability and tort cases as well as business cases."
In 1992, the Association of Defense Counsel named him Outstanding Defense Counsel. He is listed both the business litigation and personal injury litigation sections of "The Best Lawyers in America"
At the Wright firm, Moody says, he didn't simply learn to practice law. He learned how to be a lawyer.
"What I learned from the older lawyers in that firm, Alston Jennings and Bob Lindsey and some others probably, was largely responsible for my attitude toward things," he said. "They taught me that it is better to be fair than it is to win at all costs. It was a valuable learning experience for me about how to conduct yourself as a lawyer as well as how to practice the law itself."
In 1999, the Arkansas Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates awarded him its first "Civility Award."
Moody said he winces when he sees lawyers go for the throat in his courtroom.
"I hate to see lawyers being rude to other lawyers or being overly aggressive toward them. I think it is counterproductive to their own case and certainly to the impression that the jury has of the judicial system," he said. "The best and most successful lawyers I've seen are the ones that can be civil and at the same time aggressively represent their clients."
Although none of Moody's forebears were lawyers, he has lawyers in the family now.
Moody is married to the former Lisa Foster, widow of Clinton presidential staffer Vince Foster. Moody has three stepchildren, including a stepdaughter who is a lawyer in Phoenix, and a son who is also a lawyer.
His son Jay is running uncontested in the race for Pulaski County Circuit Judge. He will replace retiring Circuit Judge John Ward.
"He'll be sworn in the first of January, and of course I'm very proud of him," the elder Moody said.
Jim Moody said he had no experience with criminal law before he took the bench, but in many ways civil and criminal cases aren't all that different.
"You still have the interplay of the personalities and the facts of the case and the dynamics of the jury, all the same elements in a criminal case as in a civil case," he said.
But sentencing can be a tough, Moody said, especially when he must sentence first offenders and some drug offenders.
"A lot of the cases we see are drug cases, and a lot of the individuals are more ill than they are criminal," the judge said. "It is still a hard job for me. I don't enjoy sending anyone to prison."
In his spare time, Moody says, he enjoys fishing, jogging, golf and reading histories and biographies.
"Since I've had a sit-down job most of my life, I've tried to spend my leisure time outside doing something active. As I get more ancient, reading has more appeal to me," he joked.
John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Harry Truman are among the historical figures he finds most interesting.
"I think they were, with the possible exception of Thomas Jefferson, practical-minded men who were more populist in their approach," Moody said. "They all seemed to have integrity
Jim Moody said he had no experience with criminal law before he took the bench...
When he married Foster's widow, he moved into the Foster home where one of his sons found some interesting papers in the attic. Right after the son (allegedly) tried to peddle them to a mainstream reporter just before the Rat convention in '96, the son inexplicably drove his car straight into a wall and died. The obit remarked that he would be remembered for his loyalty.
Apparently the Judge got the message IMO as he never publically commented (that I know of) on the strangeness of his son's death. Of course, he had another son to think of, too.
His son Jay is running uncontested in the race for Pulaski County Circuit Judge.
Now for all I know Judge Moody is all the wonderful things they say or imply about him in this article. Fair, civil, compassionate, interested in integrity, and one of "The Best Lawyers in America". OTOH I remember a whole slew of people from Arkansas making public statements about what a decent and honest man Webb Hubbell was... Also, does anyone know one person appointed to anything by Bill Clinton who wasn't in the game?
HEADLINE: POLICE BEAT
BYLINE: Democrat-Gazette Staff
Man dies as truck crashes into wall
A Little Rock man died Sunday after his truck left University Avenue and struck a retaining wall.
Neal C. Moody, 30, of 1413 Pine Valley Road was driving south in the 100 block of University Avenue in his 1995 Isuzu Trooper at 4 a.m. Sunday.
Moody's truck left the road, crossed the driveway of Bennigan's, struck a curb and became airborne for 22 feet. The vehicle came down and traveled 108 feet until it struck a wall. Moody was pronounced dead at 4:24 a.m. at St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center.
The police report said the investigation was turned over to the detective's office because of witness statements and a "suspicious document" found on Moody.
Detective Lt. John Martin refused to release the contents of the note but said that he did not think it was suspicious. Witnesses said they heard a horn blare then saw the truck hit the wall, Martin said.
The detective said Moody had a history of heart problems and an autopsy would be performed. He said he expected the autopsy to close the investigation.
August 27, 1996, Tuesday
NEAL COOPER MOODY, age 29, of Little Rock died Sunday. He was born in Little Rock, the son of James Maxwell Moody and the late Jo Ann Cooper Moody. He was a graduate of Catholic High School for Boys before attending Tulane University and graduating from Texas Christian University with a degree in English. Following his graduation he attended the University of Arkansas at Little Rock studying computer engineering. He had been an associate with Interactive Computer Technology in Little Rock. He was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity and a member of Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church.
Neal is survived by his father, James Maxwell Moody, and his stepmother, Lisa Foster Moody, both of Little Rock; one brother, James M. Moody Jr. of Little Rock; two stepbrothers, Vincent Foster III of New York City and John B. Foster of Little Rock; and one stepsister, Laura B. Foster of Little Rock.
A funeral service will be held Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church officiated by Reverend Victor Nixon, with burial at Restlawn Cemetery in charge of the Ruebel Funeral Home.
Having it occur at 4 a.m. also makes it sound like a possible drunk driving thing, but then they say that this 30 year old had a history of heart disease. Possible I guess.
Also, I notice this obit does not mention the loyalty thing, but I read that with my own eyes on the Ark. Dem. Gaz. site back when it was current. (I'm almost positive it was ADG.) A day or so later I posted something about it on a thread here and then decided I should go to the site and get a direct quote. At that time I couldn't find the obit at all and figured it had just timed out.
the retaining wall at parking lot for bennigan's restaurant are just across the street, caddie-cornered, to a popular pancake house that is open all night.
OTOH there have been a couple of cases of cars suddenly accelerating into immovable objects. Johnny Lawhon (sp?), son of the man who owned the place with the abandoned car in which the incriminating Clinton check was found, for one.
I do tend to make some room for coincidences and/or perplexing facts when the person under suspicion has no history. The Clintons' history is so huge and dark that I don't feel they deserve the benefit of any doubt on the basis of their record. Unfortunately that usually spills over to their cohorts as well. I still think they don't appoint anybody they don't have some leverage on...
Interesting.
You forgot to flag me to this interesting thread.
saw a couple new names on another thread on this subject and flagged them to this one for background.
you know where to find me anyhow.
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